Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-05-20
Dome Department.
A VERMONTER IN EGYPT.

W are permitted 10 llldNt lllc IOllOWlng
extracts from private letter written to
friend in a neighboring town by Hon.
Timothy G. Smith of Odessa. Russia. Il
former resident of this county. 1t is dated
Cairo, Egypt, March -. 1881:
have always wanted to visit Egypt.
and the weather being cold and bad at
Odessa. | came down here to stay till it
got better there. My two oldest daughters
are with me. and we find things very
agreeable for February and March. Most
of the time the days are plenty warm
enough to permit one to be out without
an overcoat and in the sun It's rather too
warm for comfort. After the sun goes
down it gets somewhat cooler and in the
house it would be pleasanter for me to
have IA little fire, morning and evening,
just to temper the air. But don't sup
pose the Thermometer has been lower
than sixty since we came. In the latter
part of December and January some days.
| am told were considerably colder and
one morning nearly freezing. There are
no arrangements in the houses Orheatng.
no stoves, no chimneys: and the natives
don't seem to want any. There is never
much rain here it is said to be the dricst
climate in the world In the autumn
there is rain and in winter some showers.
One day since we came it raincd enough
to be called rain. and one or two other
days it sprinkled "A little several times.
but not enough to wet the streets half a
much as they are wet by the Sprinklers
every day. All the water comes from
the Nile in pipes and hydrants. and the
men bring it into the houses in goat-skinS
just as they did thousands of years ago.
one skin Cor bottle is carried by a strap
over the back and holds three or four
pailfuls. The legs are tied; the neck the
men hold in their right hand tight enough
to keep in the water. and when they wish
they loosen their grip a little and let it
run out into barrels or wherever wanted.
The streets are Watered partly in this way
from skins and partly by sprinkling carts.
Most of the streets in the old parts of the
| city are very narrow. and the upper
stories of the houses project over the
| lower like balconies. "a in Holland and
Italy. The upper stories appear to me
not very strong. yet they stand long
enough. These projecting stories are
made in different Ways-sOmctines with
braces under them going into the walls
and in other cases simply upon projecting
timbers without braces. The fronts of
houses are not flat and smooth like Il
wall. but present Il succession of corners
like Il rail fence. each room in that way
pelllS WIN WINDOWS on TWO sites, or
even three ut the corners of streets. Most
of the houses have two or three stories
'llc greatest hummer lhTee-otllef> -FOUR
anu lew hNe' III me new parts OF the,
Vl'H 'ile >lIcc!H are i''e anu regular ana
very many Oh lilc paSilt> ana rlch people
nave H. pTelly SarueilS ana houses as !
ever saw any Wiiere' III iact III no c"lu
cii'lla'c coulu tiiere possibly ne Nuch Il
charming Narle'I ol plah'S ana trees ana
mowers Eueh itsell coulu ilarulE nave
peel prclller' Announcer pecuIlarltE OF the
mouse. l. tiat the hoor> ana roofs are all
OF Whltc stone III squares, ANA the roofs
are perfectly NAT IKE the Hoor' WIN gut
lers lor 'ile ram IN summer people some
l,'hrS >lccp upon thc roofs ana some OF
'he houses nave on me roof bed-roolh,
ana Wa:h,roV,ns where 'ie liheh |. Wa>lie"
ANA urleu' Nhere 'lle houses Joih one
announcer one can go ION" INSTANCES ON the
roofs. ana thelt> are sometimes committed
III u, riia' way;